2020 Anadolu Agency photo contest winners announced

ANKARA (AA) – Winners of Anadolu Agency’s Photos of the Year contest has been announced Friday.

Marking the essential events of 2020, the contest of Turkey’s largest news provider featured 76 images from various parts of the world in three categories -- news, life and sports.

A total of 394,624 people joined the voting throughout December.

Ozkan Bilgin’s Avalanche disaster in Turkey’s Van won the first place in the news category, while Happiness of baby Muhammad by Muhammad Said became first in the life category.

Volleyball court made of tires by Fecri Barlik took the first place in the sports category.

Bilgin’s photograph depicts a Turkish soldier sitting in the snow with teary eyes and holding the vest of his friend buried under a second avalanche during search and rescue efforts for the victims of the first avalanche in the eastern Van province’s Bahcesaray district.

The photo taken by Said shows father Khalid Mosaitef throwing his 15-month-old congenital amputee son Muhammad in the air after returning back to Idlib, Syria with prosthesis legs following his treatment in Turkey upon Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu’s instruction.

Barlik’s photo shows a group of children wearing masks and playing volleyball at a court they made with vehicles tires in the southeastern Siirt province.

The results of the voting can be reached at aa.com.tr/photooftheyear.

Anadolu Agency held its first Photos of the Year contest in 2012.